PRESTIGIOUS new awards for innovation, designed to promote new techniques or systems in business and sponsored by Price Waterhouse and The Irish Times, were launched yesterday.
The Price Waterhouse - The Irish Times Innovation Awards will identify and encourage organisations which promote an innovative culture and change that organisation's competitive position in the marketplace. The awards are supported by Forfas.
Speaking at the launch, the Minister for Commerce, Science and Technology, Mr Pat Rabbitte, called for a much more active debate on the Government's recent science and technology White Paper which, he said, raised vital issues.
According to the awards criteria: "Innovation in this context is defined as the successful creation and exploitation of new ideas. Successful innovation is essential to every aspect of business, covering finance, marketing, operations, design, human resources, research and development."
Entrants must give written details of their innovation, and its benefits to business, using less than 1,000 words.
There will be four prizes: an overall winner (£5,000) and a small business award, a large business award and a campus company award (£2,000 each).
Entries must be received at PO Box 1567, Dublin 2, by 5 p.m. on January 31st, 1997. Further information is available from Mr Dermot O'Doherty, Forfas, Wilton Park House, Wilton Place Dublin 2, telephone: (01) 607 3000, or Mr Aidan McNamara, Domino Marketing Services Ltd, Dublin 2, telephone: (01) 478 1544.
